Hi guys as the title says I’m changing to RO water. I’m in Australia, my Tap water is to bad ph of around 7.3-7.6 ppm of around 130-140. I recently changed to coco from soil and have made a automated watering setup. Reservoir is 60L bin 1/2 lines with 1/2 halos 3000L/H pump for feeding 10L/H air pump and 4 air stones Recirculating pump Has a ph meter with a probe that sits in it isn’t %100 accurate but gives me a rough idea until I used my ph pen. (Photo taken straight after transplanting) 2x plants in 5gal 70/30 coco perlite. Dtw system. Using GH micro/bloom Lucas Formula Additives are (in order) Armor si Cali-Magic Florablend Diamond nectar Rapid starter AN B-52 Wetting agent. Koolbloom dry and liquid (not using yet) (Am I mixing these in correct order) All those additives aren’t probably needed I just brought them and once they run out I won’t replace. So I was getting ph fluctuations a lot at the start of growing. Mostly ph going up. But now I’ve been storing tap water in a drum letting it dechlorinate. I normally fill my reservoir with 40L of water I get from the drum. Mix all my nutrients let it sit for over night and then set me ph 5.8. This method has been working ok but still get fluctuations. So I decided to buy a RO filtering system. This is it So what is the best way to use RO water? I had read to use %20 tap water to stabilise it. I seen ph to 10 then down to 6 ??? For buffering When using ro water should I add calmag to it until I get 150-200ppm water? Any help would be great thanks
Man to be honest your tap water sounds like good stuff ph in the 7s is normal your ppm is low for example mine is 7.2 250ppm I know other places where its 350ppm. Your tap water sounds viable to me . I make ro water and I just use it as is some people use half tap half ro they do this to keep a higher ec/ppm cause doing so is beneficial to coco cause watering with low ec will damage the buffer on your coco. I want to try my tap water because ro water is a pain but my stuff has been going so well I don't want to change anything. Your additive list looks good gh is solid stuff. I would never get rid of the silica or diamond nectar or rapid start. As far as the order always silica first I add mine and let it sit for a while. Then the rest of your additive then npk . Also every nutrient line I've used the ph drifts up over time, but that's ok ph is a range not a hard number. Hope some of that helps
I new my tap water wasn’t bad but had read online it was a lot easier to get a stable ph with RO. Yeah I have seen some bad ph/ppm tap water on here before. I may go 50/50 if it’s beneficial. I’ve heard RO systems are a pain and wastes a lot of water. I had planned to keep silica but had thought rapid start and diamond nectar were products I might not of needed. Righto ive always gone silica, Cali-Magic, micro/bloom then additives. Sure does help mate thanks.
I agree with JoshuaE. All tap water is usually around 7.5 pH and 130 ppm is good. You're wasting your money if you go to r/o in my opinion. Good luck.
Your tap water is perfect. And I would advise in favor of a ph swing from about 5.7-6.3 in coco. This covers a wider range of micronutrients absorption of grgt Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Righto I might give the ro setup the toss then. I wish I didn’t buy it now could of brought more nutrients instead lol